


Of Fire and Lividity

by Peepis and Sticks (Popfrost)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 08:38:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14997032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Popfrost/pseuds/Peepis%20and%20Sticks
Summary: It’s been four years since the world ended.Kara is a survivor living to protect her daughter, Alice, while traveling north in search of a rumored settlement in Detroit.Markus is the diplomatic leader of a community at odds with the settlement across the river, trying his best to prevent an all out war from occurring.Connor was once Amanda’s right hand man, but must now prove his worth to her by completing an impossible task.All in all, bad things happen to good people.{human au, zombie apocalypse au}





	Of Fire and Lividity

{ I }

* * *

Orange rays of light pour in through the cracks of a boarded up window. Clouds of dust shimmer as they pass through it, reminding Kara that this shelter—an old and awfully wrecked home—is only a temporary one. With how hard it is to take a good breath without having a coughing fit, she figures it’s best to keep this stop quick. Just enough to wait out the sunshower hitting the outskirts of Detroit and not a second longer.

“No one’s been in here in forever,” Alice mumbles, the collar of her shirt covering the lower half of her face. “And there weren’t any monsters when we came in. Maybe, if we did some cleaning, this could be a nice place to stay.”

Kara sets her backpack down onto the floor, looking back at the little girl from the corner of her eye. She’s situated across the room, standing by the front doorway and staring out into the downpour of yellow and orange hues. A smile tugs at Kara’s lips. It’s not a bad idea. There is, however, an obvious fault to it.

“Maybe,” Kara hums, entertaining it as she unzips her bag. “But, this house is easily accessible. No fence, out in the open. It’s just not safe, Alice.”

“Then we could put a fence up,” Alice suggests.

“We don’t have the resources to do that, sweetheart,” Kara replies with some exasperation, apologetic blue eyes looking over in hopes to meet Alice’s. The little one still stares out into the rain. Sighing, Kara goes back to searching through her bag. “I know, it’s a nice house.”

“It is, but—” Alice’s voice falters. “I… I hate walking.”

That earns Alice the slightest chuckle.

“Well, God gave you two perfectly good feet,” Kara remarks as she pulls a folded piece of paper out from her bag and stands up with it. “It’d be shame to not use them.”

“You know what I mean, _Mom_.” Alice leaves the door cracked open just slightly, turning her back to it as she walks across the living space. “We’re always on the move. I wish we could just… stay in one place.”

Kara’s heart twists. “I know,” she sighs, glancing down at the paper. “I do too. If we’re right about this place, maybe we—” her voice falters and trails off. There’s too many ‘what if’s to this, too many ‘maybe’s. Alice needs an absolute, something set in stone. But, in this world, no one had the luxury of certainty. “C’mon, let’s see if we’re on the map yet.”

She walks towards a dust covered counter and unfolds the paper onto it with a careful hand. It’s worn at the creases, yellowing from age, and speckled with the slightest hints of blood. On it reads various streets and landmarks, a map. Her eyes wander to the far right. In small yet bolded letters reads, “ **_DETROIT, MICHIGAN_ ** ”.

She’s used many maps in the past, but this one she’s kept safe deep in her bag. Granted, she’s only had it on her for a few weeks at best. It isn’t hers, but she didn’t exactly steal it either. Pressing her lips into a fine line, Kara trails her fingertips over the streets of Detroit, eyeing around for the one they’re currently on. On the farest edge of the paper, her fingertips touch it. Giddy warmth builds in her chest.

“Well, good news,” Kara chimes. “We’re on the map.”

“Really?” Alice perks and situates herself by Kara’s side. She looks over at the map. “Wow… How much longer do we have left then?”

“If we’re fast enough,” she begins, trailing her fingers back over the paper. Ways across from where they are is a large, bolded circle. A chunk of Detroit marked by the map’s previous owner, just above it in tiny lettering reads, ‘WE’LL BE SAFE HERE’. _We’ll_. Kara swallows thickly, shaking away the resurfacing of unwanted guilt. She looks back down at Alice with kind eyes. “I-If we’re fast enough, we should be in Jericho by this time tomorrow.”

Alice looks hopeful, though her eyes glimmer with an unvoiced doubt.

Kara’s smile falters even more. “Is everything okay, Alice?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replies quietly.

“Are you sure?”

Alice nods and then looks back at the doorway. “I think the rain stopped. Listen.”

Sure enough, Alice is right. The pittering of rainfall from before has ceased, replaced by the whirring of Cicadas. Kara folds the map back up.

“Alright, perfect.” She turns back to her backpack, carefully slipping the map back inside. After zipping it up, Kara slings the straps back over her shoulders. “Let’s make our way into the city. Hopefully we can find a better shelter on the way and see if we can find any more supplies.”

Without further discussion, the two take each other’s hands and head out onto the road; silent. Walking along the cracked pavement, Kara keeps her eyes on the tall buildings scraping the brightly colored sky. Though sunset is nearing, the two have enough time to get into the city, find a new shelter, and maybe scavenge some before total darkness came. Finding shelter is the easy part. At least, she thinks it is. Being years into the apocalypse, they’d be lucky to find anything, not to mention anything unexpired. And, while they do have some food left, it isn’t much to last on at this point.

If all else fails, Kara figures she can make use of the rope in her backpack, set up a trap maybe.  Although, being so close to the city, what is there to trap? Rats? Walkers? People? She shivers slightly in disgust. They’d just have to make due with sparse granola and what deer jerky they had left for one more night.

Jericho is near, Kara can feel it. Even if it isn’t, they couldn't have walked all this way for nothing, right?

Kara swallows thickly as they make their way into the first portion of the city, her eyes scanning the streets as they go. Every building they pass—shops, offices, homes—are all in the same condition. Broken windows, bullet hole marked walls, and sidewalks smeared in gore that’s long been dried. City air is just as polluted now as it was before, though now it reeks with rot. It’s nothing the two aren’t used to by now. Regardless, Kara quickens her step, keeping one hand intertwined tight with Alice’s while the free one slips back to grip carefully at the handle of her gun.

“Keep your eyes open, okay, Alice?” She whispers down to the 9 year old. “If you see anything, squeeze my hand, alright?”  
Alice nods quickly. “Got it.”

Alice, unsurprisingly, has a keen eye. Most kids her age do, but Alice—Kara notices—has a knack for analyzing an array of small details in a short amount of time. She’s always good at spotting things first, seeing something that Kara might not catch until it’s too late. Not only did it come in handy in times like these, but it made her daughter an unmatched seeker in Hide and Go Seek.

A smile flickers over Kara’s face at the thought. But then it wavers. She can’t remember the last time they got to play that game. It’s been ages. On that note, it’s been a lifetime since they’ve been in a group with kids.

As if reading her mind, Alice quietly inquires, “Do you think they’ll have any kids my age in Jericho?”

Kara looks down briefly with a warm gaze. “I’m sure they will, sweetheart.”

“What if they don’t?”

“I’m sure they’ll have older kids there to play with as well,” Kara reassures.

Silence settles between them after that. Kara keeps their movements light and quick, eyes darting around for a building that may be suitable to bunker down in for the night. After sometime of walking, Kara feels the briefest squeeze from the hand interlaced with Alice’s. She stops dead in her tracks, heart skipping a beat.

“What is it?” She questions quick, instinctively pulling her close.

“Look, over there!” Alice points across the road they’re on, towards what was once a convenience store.

Kara takes a quick glance around. No walkers nearby. No present threats. She lets out a sigh of relief.

“Good eye, Alice,” She praises, and Alice smiles wide.

Kara glances upward, noting the saturated oranges and reds painting the sky. Sunset is ebbing closer.

“Can we go in and see if there’s anything left in there?”

“We can run in and run out,” Kara decides. “After that, we _need_ to look for somewhere safe to stay.”

While their chances of finding good resources in there are low, she can’t see the harm in trying. Her mind travels back to the cold metal of her gun, mindful to the weight it has pressed against her lower back. If worse came to worst, she knows what to do.

Quick as lightning, the two hurry over to the convenience store. Pushing the doors open, Kara keeps her eyes and ears peeled. The first thing she hears—to her dismay—is a low groan, though nothing comes to sight. Kara carefully pushes Alice behind her with one hand, the other pulling the gun out and at her side.

“Stay right behind me,” she whispers in a tight voice.

The convenience store is small, but bigger than what Kara had expected. Most of the shelves are toppled over, glass piles and dried up blood trails covering the floor underneath them. At first glance, this place looks thoroughly picked clean.

Kara turns the corner, just behind the counter. She sees it there.

Clawing at the floor, lacking the telltale rot most old corpses have, is a walker without its legs. In this state, she can easily tell that he isn’t— _wasn’t_ —much older than she is now. Kara feels her stomach clench.

She pulls the little girl back some, just enough to where she can’t see what Kara’s about to do. “Alice, stay away from the counter, okay?”

“Alright.” Alice nods, looking back at the standing shelf by her side.

Kara pulls away. She looks around briefly for something long and sharp. This walker isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so there isn’t any use in wasting a bullet on it. But… she needs to put him down. It’s the right thing to do.

She walks down the aisle, scanning around for something to do the job, but also looking for supplies while she’s at it. Her gaze lands on three things in specific. A bottle of unopened water (score), a thick pair of construction gloves, and a pair of wire cutters. Kara takes her backpack off for a brief moment, dropping in the bottle and placing the wire cutters in a spot where it wouldn’t cause her issues. Slinging it back over her shoulders, she looks the gloves over.

They would no doubt come in handy in the future, but one of the two gloves can be useful now. She slips it on, hurrying back over to the toppled down shelf towards the front of the convenience store. Crouching down, she sifts through the pile of broken glass and comes upon a shard long and thick enough to get the job done. Kara holds it in her gloved hand. Jackpot.

Standing up, she makes her way back over to the counter. Her eyes stray back to Alice.

“You alright, sweetheart?”

Alice quickly looks over from the shelf she’s been focused on, holding something close to her side and out of Kara’s view.

“Y-Yeah! I’m fine!” She replies.

“Are you sure?” Kara raises a brow. “...What are you holding?”

Hesitantly, Alice holds her hand out. In it is a stuffed fox, covered in dust.

“ _Oh_.” Kara smiles. “She’s cute.”

“Yeah,” Alice looks down at it, lips pinching into a look of indecision.

Kara opens her mouth to ask something else, but the walker’s starved moan brought her attention back to it. She leaves the matter be for the time being.

Taking the shard and keeping a tight grip on it, Kara crouches by it—just out of reach. His face, though drained of life, looks almost untouched by the stages of decomposition. The blood pooling just by his severed legs are still red and viscous, unlike the dried brown she’s so used to seeing. Kara feels unease settle over her. He must’ve died just recently.

“ _I’m so sorry_ ,” she whispers out of respect, adjusting the glass shard in her hand one last time. She grips it firmly, reeling her fist back and driving it deep into it’s skull. The bone shatters, digging deep into the brain of the deceased. She clenches her teeth, looking away as she reels back and does it one last time. Underneath her, the walker stills. With a swift jerk of her hand, the shard comes loose and clatters to the floor.

Kara glances down at the glove, covered in spots of blood and brain matter. Her face contorts in disgust, wiping it all off on the walker’s shirt with an apologetic expression.

“Alright,” she breaths to herself, slipping the glove off and pushing it into her back pocket. “Let’s… see if you have anything useful.”

While she absolutely hates looting around someone’s dead body, it’s what the world has come to. Carefully, Kara pushes the walker onto it’s back and feels around it’s pockets. She finds a switchblade (very hand), a small box of ammo (she’s been running low), and box containing a few good matches. She places all of them into her backpack, feeling around one last time. While she finds nothing, something else catches her eye.

Just under his sleeve, along his forearm, something pokes out of it. Kara stares at it for a second, curiosity reeling her in as she pushes the fabric up. Her breath catches

It’s a nasty scar, just recently healed, highly resembling a clean cut triangle.

Too precise to have been an accident.

Kara grimaces hard and stands herself back up, doing her best to shake the image away. She looks back over at Alice, gathering herself back together.

“Alright,” she breaths. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, but—” Alice stops herself,  looking back down at the stuffed animal in a conflicted manner.

Kara furrows her brows. “What’s the matter, sweetie?”

“It’s just…” Alice meekly looks away. “Do you… Do you think I’m too old to have a stuffed animal?”

“Too old?” Kara echoes. She smiles and shakes her head. “Of course not, Alice. Plus, I think she’d make a nice addition to our family.”

Alice grins at that. “You think so?”

Kara nods. “I _know_ so.”

Alice looks down at the stuffed fox, grinning wider before hugging it close. After a moment, she goes back to Kara’s side, keeping an arm wrapped around it still. “Alright, I’m ready.”

“Good,” Kara muses, taking Alice’s hand once again and walking her out of the store. As they get farther from the store, something catches her attention. She looks across the street, just a little farther down the road, spotting a building situated in behind a wire fencing. With the sky now growing darker by the minute, that may prove to be a viable stop for the night. “Let’s go check that place out, okay?”

Hurrying across the road, Kara keeps Alice close and raises her guard up high. Distant groans remind her of the dangers of keeping out past dark. Walkers were a hassle during the day, but dealing with them in the dead of night? Kara shudders. She can’t risk it, especially not with Alice.

Reaching the fence, Kara quietly slips her fingers through and jostles the fence. Amazingly, it hardly budges.

“Sturdy fencing,” she remarks quietly to herself. Looking past it, Kara scans over the building it protects. It’s an old house, weather worn and visibly coming apart in some areas. A place desperately in need of love. Despite its state of disrepair, it looks to be reliable. And, with the absence of candle light or hints at human occupation, it may be their safest option now.

“We’ll bunker here for tonight,” Kara decides, slipping her backpack off.

“Are you sure?” Alice looks through the wiring, clutching her stuffed fox close. “I… I have a bad feeling about this.”

“It’s just for the night, sweetie,” She tries to reassure, taking out the wire cutters. She looks back at Alice, offering a kind expression as she brushes the loose strands of hair away from her face. “I promise, Alice, we’ll leave at first light. Now, c’mon.”

Kara crouches by the fence, clipping along the wiring until a small flap is fashioned in it. She pushes it forward, testing it.

“That should do it,” Kara breathes. “I’ll crawl in first and hold it open for you on the other side, okay?”

Alice nods, taking a little step back as her mother goes onto her knees. Crawling through, Kara keeps her arms tucked close the best she can to avoid the sharp edges of the loose wiring. Despite her best efforts, it proves to be in vain.

A jagged spine snags on her forearm, slicing into it with with little effort. She grits her teeth down to withhold the yelp clawing up her throat, eyes shutting tight as a sharp pain shoots through the limb. She fights through it, crawling to the other side before instinctively latching a hand onto the injured arm.

“M-Mom?!” Alice frets just behind her. “What happened? Did you get hurt?”

“I’m alright,” Kara replies through a grimace, though the warm wetness leaking from the cut screams otherwise. She can’t scare Alice. Pulling her good hand away, Kara lifts the wire flap back up. “Your turn, Alice. _Be careful_ crawling through.”

Alice listens and carefully crawls under. She does so without issue, thanks to her being so small and nimble. Once she’s through, she immediately goes to Kara’s side.

“A-Are you bleeding?” Alice asks as the flap drops. “What _happened_?”

“It’s just a scrape, Alice,” she breathes, despite it obviously being far worse than a scrape. She looks back up at her daughter with reassuring eyes. “Nothing a bandage can’t fix, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Alice presses, unconvinced. “Maybe I have a bandaid, or something, or—“

“Let’s get you inside first.” Kara stands up, still clutching her arm as she looks around. “Then we can handle this.”

“But, Mom—“

“Alice, _baby_ ,” Kara stresses. “I need to make sure you’re safe first. Then I’ll take care of it. I’ll be fine, sweetheart, I promise.”

Hesitantly, Alice nods. The look of worry, however, doesn’t leave.

“I’ll go check the front,” Kara suggests, cringing as her sleeve soddens with her blood and begins to cling close to her skin. “Stay here, and don’t wander off, okay?”

Alice nods, hugging the stuffed fox close as Kara pulls away again.

Turning around, she walks briskly across the patio and cuts around the corner as fast as she can. Then she stops. Leaning against the front wall, Kara grits her teeth and finally spares the cut a long look. With the blue hour hitting the city—sunlight almost nonexistent—it’s hard to make out just how bad it is. But, despite the lack of clear light, Kara can make out the dark blotch growing along the sleeve of her dress shirt. This… this is going to need stitches, isn’t it?

Her stomach churns with fear. She’s managed to do a lot of thing in the past, but _stitches_? After 4 years, she and Alice have been lucky enough to evade a situation like that. It was only a matter of time before that luck ran out.

“No, no, _no_.” Kara rests her head back against the wall, cursing. Despite the fear running through her, she reminds herself that she must stick it through for her daughter. No matter how scared she is, Alice needs her to be strong. To stay in one piece.

Kara takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she pulls away from the wall. Stay calm. Keep yourself together. _Do it for Alice_.

Her eyes move back over to scan the front wall, noting just how boarded up the windows are. Not a crack remains, though it’s obvious how much thought was put into making the house as safe as possible. She walks further down the patio, coming up to what would he the front door. To her dismay, it’s completely boarded over, multiple nails hammered into each side of the wooden planks. Whoever had occupied this house first, really didn’t want any company. Kara isn’t sure whether to admire their work or curse it all together.

Regardless, it’s obvious that the front door isn’t a viable means of entry at this point.

“There must be backdoor,” Kara murmurs to herself. “There has to be someway we could—“

“MOM!”

Kara’s heart stops.

_Alice_?

Her legs are moving faster than she can even think. _Alice_. Kara sprints across the patio, mind buzzing with panic. She’d only been gone for a few minutes—three at best! How could she let her guard down like this, leave Alice by herself?!

“ _ALICE_!”

Turning the corner, she doesn’t expect to see what’s around it.

“DON’T MOVE!”

Kara stops dead in her tracks, her blue eyes meeting a panic stricken glare. One of his arms are wrapped tight around Alice’s figure, lifting her up off the ground and by his side. The free arm—or, rather, his hand—wields a knife, pointing it dangerously close to her thin neck. If Alice were to flinch hard enough, it would surely kill her.

“Y-You!” The man cries across the patio. “Ralph knows who you are! Monsters! Monsters sent to hurt Ralph!”

Kara shakes her head as the man adjusts the knife closer to Alice’s neck. His hand trembles. Alice stifles out a frightened whimper, her lips quivering as a quiet cry slips out of her.

“We aren’t here to hurt you… Ralph?” Kara slowly steps forward, reaching her hand back to touch her gun. “We just need a place to stay. Just for the night, and then we’ll leave. Please—“

“Liar!” The man—Ralph?—screams. “Ralph knows you, you Cyberlife monsters! Ralph heard the man screaming in the store!”

_The man screaming in the store?_

Ralph points his knife across the road, towards the convenience store.

Kara slips the gun out from her waist band, keeping it hidden behind her back. Her bad arm shakes slightly with exertion as a palm raises up to her defense.

“We had nothing to do with that,” Kara says calmly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ralph, but we aren’t here to hurt you. Please—“ Kara begs quietly. “Just let my daughter go and we’ll leave—“

“No! Ralph was hurt once,” he breathes dangerously low, bringing the knife back under Alice’s chin. “Ralph was hurt once, and Ralph will _not_ be hurt again! No! Ralph will never be hurt again by you monsters!”

Kara takes a deep breath. It’s now or never.

Before she has the chance to exhale, to take any action, a voice sounds behind Ralph.

“ _Woah, woah! What's going on_ —?!”

**_BANG_ **.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, there! Thank you for taking the time to read OFAL, I hope you enjoyed!  
> The next chapter will be out soon, though I can't offer a specific date, so be sure keep an eye out for that!  
> Also, I'd absolutely love to hear what y'all's predictions are for what'll happen next!  
> In any case, thanks again for reading!


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